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Jewish Life Around the World

At my seder, as at many, we go around the table, taking turns reading successive pieces of the text. In the Magid section (the portion of the seder that retells the story of the exodus from Egypt), right before the story of the Four Children, someone gets this story:
It happened once on Pesach that Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarfon were reclining in Bnai Brak and were telling the story of the exodus from Egypt that whole night, until their students came and said to them, “The time for reciting the morning Sh’ma has arrived.”
The... Read More

Marques Hollie, 32, has created a Passover performance piece called “Go Down Moshe” at the intersection of what he describes as “the shared otherness of American Jews and people of color.” I recently caught up with Marques to hear more about this project and his Jewish journey.
ReformJudaism.org: What was your earliest experience with religion?
Marques Hollie: I was raised primarily in Bellevue, NE, which is not exactly teeming with diversity. We didn’t talk about religion in our home, but my parents considered going to a Black church. When I came out as both queer and atheist at... Read More

Imagine for a moment that Jewish history had developed along slightly different lines than it did. Imagine that alongside Zionism, the modern movement dedicated to rebuilding the Jewish homeland, another movement, this one focused on building Jewish life outside the Land of Israel, also flourished. It would serve as a counterpart to Zionism, helping to establish a second center of Jewish life.
This thought experiment is not so hard to imagine, considering that throughout much of Jewish history, our people had two centers of civilization: eretz Yisrael, the land of origin, and... Read More

I am sitting in a darkened room full of people watching my film, Sand on the Floor. Its reflection from the screen is the only source of light, just enough to see the faces of my 16-member focus-group. I watch for their reactions.
Around the 50-minute mark, though, as the choir sings and it feels like a Hollywood ending, a slow panic builds inside me.
I know what comes next. The scene I never wanted to film. The scene that didn’t fit. The scene that four different rabbis insisted be included. The last scene. The epilogue.
The story of my transformation – turning away from Judaism... Read More

Want to make Passover 5778 a little more worldy? Whether you use these recipes for your seder or for your fifth-night meal, here are 10 recipes that will give you a small taste of how many Jews around the world celebrate Passover.
Sides and Appetizers
Jaroset (Panamanian Halek): Jewish chef Tina Wasserman shares a recipe from her Panamanian friend Rita, whose roots go back to Spain via Amsterdam and Curaçao.
Tri-Colored Gefilte Loaf, Spanish Style: This recipe, which melds the flavors of a 500-year-old Spanish Jewish... Read More